Development of Flexible Mirror Mounts for Ccxrs Diagnostics for Iter : Design, Calculation and Simulation of Flexures

A nuclear fusion reactor is currently being built by the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Cadarache, France. The process of fusing hydrogen isotopes into heavier elements releases a vast amount of heat which will be tapped to produce hot water and electricity. The vacuum core is filled with 150 million degree Celsius plasma and is confined using the electromagnetic forces. A core Charge Exchange Recombination Spectroscopy (cCXRS) will serve for visible light diagnostic and is consisted of seven mirrors (M1 to M7). The mirrors will reflect the visible light emitted by the interaction of the plasma with the diagnostic neutral beam (DNB) to the spectrometers. However the third mirror (M3) needs a flexible holder to ensure a perfect reflection.The process of developing the holder involves designing using CATIA V5 while mathematics and mechanics are used to obtain the optimum dimensions. ANSYS Workbench has been utilized intensively to simulate the thermal-stress behavior of the assembly. Finally vital analyses are performed and suggestions to improvise the structure are discussed.